Catskill Mountain Fibers

Archive for the ‘roving’ Category

I’m so happy to have had a few sales of my hand spun yarn in our Etsy shop. Until now, I hesitated to list it because . . . I wanted to keep it all for me!  Had to start letting some go, and for it to move so quickly makes me feel really good. I hope those that purchased the yarn are thrilled with it, too.  I’d love to see what is created with it.
I have more to list and need to get photos. I also have some gorgeous batts that I made up a couple of months ago to get in the shop. More roving . . .

OK! 

There is a second Nor-easter moving into our area this morning. Unusual for snow threats to be issued in mid October. I supposed I shouldn’t be surprised since we had such a cool, dreary summer. There had been reports that we’d have a mild winter here in the northeastern USA, but I doubt that so we’re preparing – having extra pellets delivered soon.

I’ve dyed up a pound of milk protein fiber in the Painted Desert color-way and will rinse and finish that up this morning. I also put wool into six Ball jars, added dyes and popped them all into the oven in a water bath to heat activate the dyes last evening. That all needs to be rinsed and then put on the rack in front of the pellet stove to dry. I hope to be able to start spinning some of it this evening.  I’ll be making items for raffles for a charity event that my aunt is helping to organize.  I’m thinking of some colorful cool hats for the event. . . maybe one hat in the colors of Poland’s flag.  I’ll post photos of the dyed fibers later today.

Out on my rear deck are 2 boxes containing raw fleece. One box has 10 pounds of kid mohair and it is NASTY! I’ve been telling myself for many months that I need to put on gloves and go through it to salvage the best parts. In box #2 is 3 pounds of Cheviot and 3 pounds of a Border Leicester cross – both white long wools. I didn’t look at it too closely when it was delivered. Maybe if the weather is good tomorrow I’ll sit on the deck and go through it. These will be the last raw fleeces that I buy. I simply do not have the energy or patience to process them all correctly. I’ll be sticking with scoured fleece, batts and roving from here on.

I also plan on buying mainly from the co-op I belong to and also from R. H. Lindsay. I’ve received excellent quality fibers from both and got fantastic deals on dyes (MX & acid) from the co-op.  We’re still hunting for a local source for stainless steel tines for our wool tools. We’re purchasing from a place in the state of Florida right now and each six foot tine ordered is in its own plastic tube. Order 20 – get 20 plastic tubes. PITA!  Due to the cost of each rod we’ve had to raise the prices on the hackles and wool combs. Once we find a local source we’ll be able to drop the prices to keep them in the affordable range we’ve set out to offer to all customers. Fortunately, the wood we buy is always reliable, not warped, well seasoned, and from a great supplier that always has the cuts we need ready and waiting.

I wish that my health and current state of mind were in a better place so that I could get my hand spun yarns listed for sale. With the chronic illness I have exhaustion sets in rapidly with little exertion. This sucks but at least I’m still able to sit and spin to produce the yarn. . . taking the photos in correct lighting, photo editing, and listing on Etsy can be daunting for me.

We need to start selling some stuff soon – our fridge recently died and we lost everything in the freezer, which just happened to be packed full of various proteins and frozen vegetables.  $1250 later (our savings is officially empty and I had to put two bills on hold) we have a lovely Whirlpool Gold bottom mount, French door fridge that is a medium gray color – advertised as ‘stainless look‘.  I love it!  Anyway – the frozen (unfrozen) veggies went outside off of the deck for our adopted deer – Droolie.  The huz has given her that name because of the way she salivates as she waits for us to come out of the house to bring her goodies. Huz can hand feed her – she’s quite bold and trusts us completely. I saw that she was here earlier today with her fawn but I was too late to get anything out to them. She does visit every day and I have stuff for tomorrow ready to go when she arrives.

I’m still spinning yarn up for the Garden (slug) Snail and will probably have it done tonight. Since this creature will be felted I’m not going to bother with finishing the yarn – setting the twist and whatnot. I’m spinning on my large whorl and it’s a 2:1 ratio so the twist is quite low anyway. I used a yellow & pink merino roving for the body(knitting complete!!) and a myriad of colors for the shell that is Falkland roving.

So, it’s getting late and I’m going to spin to try and relax myself in hopes of getting to bed before 2 a. m..

I’m going to set up two other blogs for different aspects of life.  This one will be kept for the ‘all things fiber’ part of me. A second will be to chronicle my battle with and thoughts regarding living with Hepatitis C, and the third will be a journal of sorts involving a new project I’m working on that finally came to light today.

Fiber!  Passion for sure. My fiber acquisitions have taken over the house and my darling, thoughtful HUZBEAST has become an integral part of the obsession/passion that I harbor for all things fiber. He has built me all kinds of tools so that I can work with anything from raw wool to yarn. I have hackles, wool combs, diz’s, spinning wheels – both treadle and electric, lazy kates, a fantastic drum carder, and more!  He’s quite creative and is currently working on yet another wheel which uses a miner’s head. While I’m not sure the added speed and ratios are something I actually need I”m more than willing to give it a go.  I just love watching him conceptualize these things. He becomes so intense, working from the time he gets up in the morning until late into the night – sketching designs, cutting wood, sanding, assembling. He really enjoys working with wood and he does it quite well.

This past week he built me a table for the drum carder. Excellent design and it works so well for me – custom height, it holds the carder in place extremely well. I was able to whip 6 batts off of it in an afternoon.

Today is a knitting day. I have a top on a circular that I’m working on for Andrea. It’s quite beautiful and I have chosen to work the pattern in the round to eliminate side seams. I have the body of the top just about complete and will be dividing it today for shaping for sleeves and the neckline.  I want to modify the sleeves because they’re ‘belled’ and my daughter doesn’t care for that type of sleeve. I’m debating whether to go short sleeved, three quarter, or keep them long but straight.  Once I have the piece completed (minus sleeves) I’ll make a decision.  Also on needles: the tulip baby blanket (can get bbb-ooooooo-ring), and I’ve had to rework the requested skull cap design several times. Unfortunately the cap will have be modified totally from the original concept. I think that the person that requested it will be happy in the end. We shall see!  I had also started a shawl for the wedding but I’m not thrilled with it. I’m going to go out and find something in a silk or rayon to wear instead. I have a feeling that even a lightweight wool shawl will be too warm for the September 5th event.

That’s it for now. . .

Just wanted to say that even though the package was damaged quite badly it was complete. I weighed the opened bag of locks and found they weighed 2.5 pounds. I had only ordered 2 – Bonus!

I haven’t opened the plastic bag containing the 20 pounds of wool yet. The bag has expanded to its limits though, and is HUGE!  If I were to open it all of the wool would pretty much pour out of the bag!  Lots of spinning & dyeing in the very near future.

I didn’t realize that the box of wool that arrived from The Sheep Shed Studio had been damaged in transit. Turns out while it was in Jersey City they had to reassemble and tape the box up. I thought that the colored locks looked a bit short and will weigh them later today to be sure that I got the entire 2 pounds ordered. If not, I guess I’ll have to file a claim.

I haven’t opened the 20 pound bag of wool yet. I know that when I do and the air hits it and gets sucked in it’ll expand to about 4x its size. YIKES!  There’s lots of great wool in that bundle. Bits of black, brown & blue along with tons of white.  Enough to keep me busy for some time to come.

Tomorrow son & DIL (future) are coming up to explain or apologize for the horrible accusations that son made against us way over a year and a half ago. He hasn’t spoken to us since and DH is VERY angry about it all and plans to confront our son BIG TIME. Its been haunting me all week to the point that I’ve had a few dreams about the coming confrontation and none of them have been good. I’m dreading tomorrow evening. The stress is causing me to have abdominal pains in the liver region. I’m going to eat lightly – no meats – and drink teas to try to soothe any inflammation that is present. I’m hoping that all goes well tomorrow . . . feeling sick to my stomach right now.

The post office dropped off the HUGE box of wool this morning. Its stuffed so full I can’t get the bag out of the box. I’ll have DH do it when he gets up. There’s enough there to keep me busy for quite some time. I noticed some black in there – I need some for a hat pattern I”m working out, another happy plus. I also need to spin up more white, quite thin, so that I can work the skull pattern on the top of the hat.

My dyes and whatnot are scheduled for delivery tomorrow afternoon. I have two books coming with that order that are about natural dyeing. I have a bunch of reading to do before I dive into all of the naturals that will arrive. Plants, roots & bugs for dyeing. COOL!

I’m starting a new length of roving – 10 ounces – and it’s a myriad of colors and actually kind of ugly. I’m spinning it super thin and will then ply it – maybe Navajo, depends on the single, for use with a shawl pattern that I’ve found.

Ugly super-fine merino roving!

I’ve finally designed my own blog layout. While this isn’t the ultimate look that I’m going for, I do like it and it’ll work for now. I’ll be working on other layouts and probably tweaking this one until I have something that I’m totally happy with. I think I’d like to go into the style sheet for this layout and change the text color so that I don’t have to do so each time I post.  . . . eh- whatever!

So, I’ve been spinning for the Tour-de-Fleece and have been doing mostly Navajo plying. I love it! Especially since I’ve learned my own way to do so and can work quickly.  I have so many skeins of yarn that need to soak, be whacked, and hung outside to dry! I’ve been thinking of designing an afghan pattern using all kinds of hand spun in different colors and weights. Something kind of freeform.

I also have to choose fiber to send for the first round of the latest swap in the Fiber Swap Group on Ravelry. I’m currently paired up with someone I’ve swapped with before and sent her some red & white roving with glitzy extras. This time I’d like to send her batts. I’ll get those together later this afternoon so I can get them in the mail today. I’m also part of the Focus on Hand spun group; not sure if I’m going to continue with this one. AND, I manage the ‘Top Chef Masters’ hand spun swap on Ravelry. Very small group, very quiet group. As of the second episode I was totally out, so I’ll choose a nice skein of hand spun to send to the winner as soon as the show ends.

Have a doc appointment today at 1:30. I want to ask him to draw blood for a viral level so I can see where I stand as far as starting or holding off on treatment. My biggest fear with treatment is that it’ll destroy vital organs and I’ll end up needing a transplant. This is NOT something that I want to even think about, much less experience, so I’m hoping for levels under the ones that were determined in 2006 – the number to beat is 69,100.  I’ll be holding my breath for lower or even undetectable levels since my last liver enzyme profile came back totally normal for the first time in over 20 years. I also have to question my pain medication. There have been recent issues with the acetaminophen content in vicodin so I’d like to see about vicoprofen or just plain vicodin.

Photos later today of handspun & whatnot . . .